BEIJING — China's State reserves authority on Oct 9 released a total of 150,000 metric tons of copper, aluminum and zinc from the national reserves to alleviate the burden on businesses over rising costs of raw materials.

The National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration said it would step up the monitoring of commodity prices and organize follow-up releases of national reserves.

Since the beginning of this year, bulk commodity prices have surged due to factors including the overseas spread of COVID-19 and the imbalance in supply and demand, causing pressure on medium and small firms.

This is the fourth batch of releases to the market. China has previously released a total of 420,000 tons of copper, aluminum and zinc to maintain market order.